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I will admit, I love hot sauces. I like it on pretty much everything (except maybe some desserts). My tastes in the endorphin inducing, palate tingling, flavor enhancing, probably/hopefully aphrodisiacal concoctions runs the gamut of the vinegary tabasco like sauces to the much more viscous Asian sauces (Sriracha for instance). Lately, I have been totally hooked on Indonesian hot sauces. If you have a penchant for hot sauces, I would love to hear about it.-Shaji

One particular hot sauce that I'm fond of is called Inner Beauty. It was invented by Chris Schlessinger, chef/owner of the East Coast Grill restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He modeled it after Jamaican-style hot sauces. It is a mustard-mango based sauce that gets its heat from habanero chiles. The East Coast Grill used to sell it commercially, but they discontinued it. Schlessinger has since then published the recipe. I have made the home recipe several times and I have posted it in this forum.

I also like Paul Prudhomme's version of the Tabasco-like sauces popular in Louisiana cuisine. Unlike tabasco, Prudhomme's sauce isn't aged in wood barrels and to to my taste it has a fresher flavor that I prefer to Tabasco.

Paul,Only last week, I tried Pickapeppa, which too has a mango base to it. It was quite flavorful and had a smoky/tangy/tamarind notes. I only wish it had a tad more "bite" to it. Sounds like Inner Beauty (great name for a hot sauce, by the way!!) with it's habanero might be interesting to try. -Shaji

Sriracha and sambal oelek for cooking. El Yucateco red and green and/or Cholula for the table. Crystal preferred to Tabasco for Louisiana-style dishes. Those are my mainstays, although I almost always have a half dozen bottles of interesting goodies around. Melinda's Mango and Melinda's Garlic are always worth having, for instance.

Robin Garr wrote:Sriracha and sambal oelek for cooking. Yucateca red and green and/or Cholula for the table. Crystal preferred to Tabasco for Louisiana-style dishes. Those are my mainstays ...

I can't believe I forgot the one I probably use the most! Simple and straightforward, dried red-pepper flakes. I use just a taste of them, with black pepper, just about every time I sautee garlic as a basic flavor start for a dish - and when don't I? A serious shake will create a fiery dish, but I'm talking about just a hint of heat, where the combination of red and black creates a more subtle flavor then black alone.

The last time there was a topic like this, I learned about Lan Chi chili garlic sauce from Jenise. It is a Chinese style flavoring, not a "sauce" in the sense of a liquid that you put on top of something, but a sort of paste that you use as an ingredient. I have used it in many ways, very successfully as a flavoring for dehydrated kale chips. I will confess that I made a spicy shrimp dish that had enough Lan Chi sauce in it to give me some G.I. problems for a couple of days. But it's delicious.

For normal "sauce" added to, say, eggs, I really like Cholula, in its varieties.

In an omelet I especially like the Avery Island Reserve Tabasco sauce, which is hard to come by. When Louise uses 3 or 4 drops of that in an omelet, I can tell what she used.

For soups, the dry red pepper flakes.

Otherwise I have Frank's and Crystal and Sriracha, for various uses...

Another hot sauce that I like from time to time is Lingham's. It is from Malaysia and I have seen various offrings from them in the local Asian store. I like the ones that have ginger in it. Slightly more sweet than the other hot sauces, they serve as a really good dipping sauce for pot stickers, egg rolls, samosas etc..

Definitely have the penchant, Shaji. And though I keep a number of them around and enjoy them in different ways with different foods (sriracha mixed with oil to marinate, then broil chicken wings in, for instance), it I had to choose, say, two to live with me on a dessert island, Melinda's XXXX habanero-based sauce and the Lan Chi paste Frank talks about would be those two. Habanero is the most addictive pepper of them all for me, and a sauce that's very similar to Inner Beauty made by a friend's uncle in Trinidad is what finally set that hook and converted the hot sauce thing from something I enjoyed to something on occasion to something I craved another session with. When Uncle Cecil died, his recipe went to his grave with him so the niece and I floundered about a few years before discovering that Melinda's kind of got us in the zone. I started with triple X but soon moved to the quad. Melinda's Red Savina is what I reach for when I don't reach for the XXXX.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Jenise wrote:Definitely have the penchant, Shaji. And though I keep a number of them around and enjoy them in different ways with different foods (sriracha mixed with oil to marinate, then broil chicken wings in, for instance), it I had to choose, say, two to live with me on a dessert island, Melinda's XXXX habanero-based sauce and the Lan Chi paste Frank talks about would be those two. Habanero is the most addictive pepper of them all for me, and a sauce that's very similar to Inner Beauty made by a friend's uncle in Trinidad is what finally set that hook and converted the hot sauce thing from something I enjoyed to something on occasion to something I craved another session with. When Uncle Cecil died, his recipe went to his grave with him so the niece and I floundered about a few years before discovering that Melinda's kind of got us in the zone. I started with triple X but soon moved to the quad. Melinda's Red Savina is what I reach for when I don't reach for the XXXX.

Yes, Melinda's XXX habanero sauce is popular here, too. Sriracha is also a staple here, as is Tabasco for other applications. Then there's the related topic of store-bought salsas, the most popular of which in our household are Mrs. Renfro's Hot Green Taco Sauce (a simple blend of jalapeños, onions and vinegar) and Frontera Roasted Tomatillo salsa.

Shaji M wrote:Another hot sauce that I like from time to time is Lingham's. It is from Malaysia and I have seen various offrings from them in the local Asian store. I like the ones that have ginger in it. Slightly more sweet than the other hot sauces, they serve as a really good dipping sauce for pot stickers, egg rolls, samosas etc..

We also have a bottle of that in the house. As you say, it's sweeter than some, with a decent-but-not-overwhelming kick. Makes a good modifier for a banh mi.

Surprised that Frank's was mentioned only once above. I much prefer it to Tabasco, which tastes more of vinegar than of peppers.

Here in South Florida we have a local hot sauce maker who is really good. You won't find his stuff our of the area. In fact, it's not easy to find it in the area, but it's worth going out of your way for. The sauces, despite their descriptions, are not blow-your-head-off hot but are very complex and flavorful. They can be ordered online. Checkout mauipepper.com or tahitijoeshotsauces.com. A particular favorite is Mango Meltdown.

Frank Deis wrote:I finally found a bottle of Tapatio during our travels -- it was at the simple Mexican Restaurant + Gas Station in Pescadero.

I used it on our tacos there, and a few other places (did NOT take it to Manresa!!! )

And this morning the airline guys confiscated it.

Crap.

Ah well, you can buy anything from Amazon if you're willing to pay shipping = price of item.

That is a drag. http://www.tapatiohotsauce.com/index.html You could go there too. We always have a 32oz bottle on hand at the house along with a few others such as Frank's. For some reason I got tired of Cholula and haven't bought it in years. But everybody needs this

Robin Garr wrote:El Yucateco! Agreed, it's one of the best, and we've always got some in the Condiment Pantry. It comes in a variety of flavors/colors, too, although I agree that the green is first-rate.

The first time I saw the red version was when my good buddy showed up with it. I had told him to pick some up for me. I said, "they didn't have the green?" His response, "that's not green?". One of the challenges of being color blind.

Frank Deis wrote:I finally found a bottle of Tapatio during our travels ... And this morning the airline guys confiscated it.

Tapatío forbidden on airplanes! And it isn't even Habanero-based!

I had no idea it was a sought item, Frank. In California the stuff is inescapable, found in half the restaurants. I guess it is a regional US condiment: The Wikipedia page (which looks written by the manufacturer) says it started in 1971 in southern California. Tapatío has a distinctly Mexican non-pepper spice component (cumin?) unlike many hot sauces, which I find less useful for some things I use them for, like Asian noodle dishes. Very good on egg dishes. It shouldn't be expensive, and you can certainly get it from one of the US specialty pepper-sauce dealers like Mo Hotta Mo Betta.

In the 1990s, mainstream US was discovering the range of hot sauces "beyond Tabasco" and specialty firms like MHMB were opening. One operated near me for a while, even had a tasting counter with tiny plastic spoons like some ice-cream shops. I could walk in and ask for suggestions for, say, Habanero sauces with citrus or other notes around the low tens of thousands Scoville, and they'd wave me to a wall of maybe 60 potential fits. Samples doled out at the tasting counter.

However, tasting hot sauces isn't like tasting ice creams, or even whiskies. 10 or 20 small samples of ragingly hot sauces, and you badly need cool ale or something for "palate cleanser." The shop was ill-equipped. Even water wasn't adequate. So I have mixed memories of those experiences.

That firm turned me on to the range of Habanero and Scotch-Bonnet sauces produced around Belize, many of them richly and complexly flavored, all in 5-ounce bottles of a standard shape, and many of them made under contract by one large firm, Marie Sharp's, whose own sauces (lively and bright flavor with key lime, carrot, onion and garlic) have been my household very-hot sauces for 15 years (the "Fiery Hot" grade is in earnest, I find it strong for frequent use vs the "Hot"). Another superb brightly, richly flavorful Caribbean sauce, with Scotch Bonnet and papaya, is West Indies Creole brand from Dominica. Inspired by this thread, I just splashed a little on some reheated Chinese dan-dan noodles I'm finishing.

I =should= be able to find Tapatio around here, maybe I just haven't found the right store. We have a growing Mexican population, and a nice Mexican grocery in New Brunswick. At any rate I have already ordered it (and green Yucateco) from Amazon. The shipping costs more than the items, of course, but I will have it soon without having to shop around.

My mistake was -- we had some leftover Afghan food from a restaurant in Burlingame close to SFO, and my thought was to just pack it in my carry-on along with the hot sauce, so I could give it a jolt. Louise and I carefully finished off her bottle of water before we hit the check point but somehow I spaced out on hot sauce being a liquid. So when they went through my bag, they said "you can't take this on the airplane." At least I had had a few opportunities to use it before it was taken away. If only I had just stuck it in my suitcase!

The asian hot sauces are really different and really good. I've mentioned Lan Chi chili garlic paste, I love that stuff. And in a previous discussion here I mentioned that my first bottle of Sriracha was from a different manufacturer than the one you see everywhere these days, and I greatly preferred that but now can't find it. There was a different animal on the top of the label (a goose?). That Sriracha was not QUITE as hot and also a bit more flavorful than the stuff I have now. Oh, and everyone probably has a bottle of Thai Chili Garlic sauce, best on just about any kind of chicken. Somewhat sweet but richly flavored.

OK, last night my son arrived and switched the TV to Futurama, the cartoon show. And one scene featured a bottle of "Pompeii Joe's Island Hot Sauce" -- a drop fell on the table, burned through, fell on the floor, burned through that, etc. until it burned down to Hell and landed on Satan's head, and burned through THAT. I figured this had to be a reference to something in the real world, so with some Googling I found the Pepper Joe site and this recipe:

Cut habanero peppers in half and remove seeds. Drop in boiling water for 30 seconds to blanche.(handle with care) Remove peppers and put onion, carrots and garlic cloves into boiling water and cook until tender. Squeeze juice from lime and combine all ingredients and put in blender. First chop, then blend at high speed. done!

Just put in wide-mouth jar and store in fridge. Spoon out this hot sauce as needed. Delicious on cheesesteaks, hamburgers, pizza, or added to soups, chili, tomato sauce. Also can scrub garage floors.

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I wonder if anyone has tried this? I have stayed AWAY from habañero peppers until this forum forced me to try El Yucateco green chile habañero salsa -- in fact my brother in law also induced me to try the red. And I discovered that I liked it, I really liked it!

But this stuff looks lethal. Maybe I would switch out half of the habañeros for jalapeños so that I can come up with something that I can actually eat without too much pain and suffering. Or should I cut back more than that?